Democrats turn down Catholic leader – can’t say as I blame them

The story: Cardinal Timothy Dolan offered to give the prayer at the Democratic National Convention, but has been turned down:

WASHINGTON – President Obama turned down a chance to have Timothy Cardinal Dolan deliver a prayer at the Democratic National Convention after Dolan told Democrats he would be “grateful” to deliver a blessing in Charlotte.

That lede may be, at best, highly speculative, since the story later says Dolan simply “has not been contacted” about his offer.

Dolan – considered the top Catholic official in the nation, as head of the Archdiocese of New York and president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops – tipped off Democrats a few weeks ago that he had agreed to deliver the prime-time benediction at the Republican convention in Tampa next week, Dolan’s spokesman Joseph Zwilling told The Post.

“He wanted to make sure that they knew that this was not a partisan act on his part and that he would be just as happy and grateful to accept an invitation from the Democrats as he would to have received one from the Republicans,” said Zwilling.

The story later reports a Democrat claim that a “high ranking Catholic” will be “an important part of a diverse community of interfaith leaders represented in Charlotte.” So, good. It’s not like Catholics won’t be there at all.

Still, that’s not the same thing as having Dolan — the highest-ranking Catholic in the U.S., who has been publically at odds with President Obama over his administration’s policies — putting all that aside to give the blessing at their big event.

That would be a chance for Democrats to say: look, maybe we don’t agree on everything, but Dolan likes us. He hasn’t abandoned us. He’s willing to work with us.